When the plan worked
by robot-ninja-wizard accountant
Summary: Non-massacre AU. Shisui's plan to put the clan under a genjutsu worked, but Danzo and Obito are still causing trouble. Itachi is 21, not dying, and trying to protect his village and the three people that make up his world: his best friend, his girlfriend, and his little brother.
1. Chapter 1

AU of Itachi Shinden. Shisui's plan sort of worked and the Uchiha's coup was delayed. Danzo is still causing trouble for the Uchiha. Takes place around the time of the start of Naruto, so Itachi is 21. Also because he is not a missing-nin and never awakened his mangekyo sharingan, Itachi isn't dying.

.

A muffled flushing sound from the adjacent room, a brief crack of light in an otherwise dark room, and a dip in the bed as Izumi settled next to him.

"You knew I was here. Danzo had you watching the clan again." Izumi stated softly with a quiet understanding.

It was mid-day, although you wouldn't be able to tell from looking around the room thanks to the excellent black-out curtains that Izumi had installed in her apartment. Itachi had just gotten off duty, but he had not wanted to go home. While surveillancing the clan, he had briefly noticed that Izumi had come home around lunch. Itachi had basically jumped Izumi after she left him in, using sex to distract his thoughts.

Of course, Izumi would know what was going on. She was one of two people that knew all Itachi's secrets. She was one of the three people that Itachi loved unconditionally. Even before Shisui's genjutsu, she had been against the coup, encouraging him to keep trying to convince the clan on other options. Unlike Itachi and Shisui, Izumi wasn't entrenched in ANBU, which provided Itachi and Shisui a different perspective when considering plans and she provided an alibi for Itachi since the rest of the clan was still suspicious of him.

"It was a long day. I saw the man that killed my teammates visiting the Shrine again. I hope you don't mind my intrusion." Itachi stared at the dark ceiling as Izumi leans her cheek against his left bicep.

"We will have to tell Shisui about that, but know you can come here any time. You actually came at a good time. So although the B-rank took four days, it was really uneventful. I was just unpacking. Anyway, now I have enough cash if you want to take Sasuke and his brand new team out to dinner in celebration. Because everything you told me about Hatake leads me to believe he isn't going pay."

"I think Sasuke will hate that." Itachi replied as Izumi seemed to straddle him clearly telegraphing her intention to kiss him.

The kiss ended all too quickly, as Izumi pulled up. "Now, I want to make sure that I have this straight. No one is expecting you until Sasuke finishes up, and no one is expecting me anywhere for the rest of today."

"Correct"

"And you didn't even get to see me off before my mission because you have been away for two days."

"Correct"

"So I think that means that we need to have like a week's worth of sex. Unless you are too tired."

Itachi responded by running his hands softly up her torso, stopping just below her breasts, using his thumbs to lightly caress the underside of her boobs. Izumi moaned, wiggling enticingly, and then engaged his mouth with a hot breathy kiss.

.

Sasuke came in looking particularly cute and disgruntled. Itachi didn't even try to hide the smile that crept to his face.

"Having fun with your genin team little brother?"

Sasuke responded with a scathing glare, which only made Itachi's smile widen.

"Izumi says we should take your team out for a celebratory dinner" Itachi continued.

"So your girlfriend's back, and she wants to submit me to more time with the idiot."

"Genin teams are important" Itachi countered patiently

"Well I never see you spending time with your's" Sasuke replied without realizing the sore spot he had just hit. Maybe it was time Itachi told Sasuke that story. He wanted to protect Sasuke from everything, and yet Sasuke was a ninja now. Itachi would only be hurting him if he coddled him too much, a voice that sounded like Shisui noted in his head.

"That is because most of mine is dead. I wish I could go back and spend more time with them. This ninja life is dangerous. Your team might frustrate you now. Kakashi likes being frustrating on purpose, but I promise that these bonds will be important to you one day."

Seeming to calm down and looking shocked and maybe a tad bit remorseful, Sasuke agreed "Okay, I can let everyone tomorrow." Sasuke still had that bad habit of idolizing Itachi. Itachi was conflicted betweening loving the way his most precious person clearly loved him, and being all too aware of his flaws and failings.

"Hey, nii-san. I'm sorry about your genin team"

"I appreciate your concern, Sasuke. Now, why don't you clean up before Father comes home for dinner." The corresponding flash in Sasuke's eyes before he turns and goes down the hall means that Sasuke had forgot all about both dinner and Father."

.

After hearing a delightful (in Itachi's opinion) story about Kakashi trying to teach his three genin teamwork exercises.

Fugaku turned to his oldest son and ask about his day.

"I had an mission, and then Izumi returned from her mission today"

"What type of mission?"

"That is classified"

Fugaku paused, "There are no secrets within family"

Mikoto wanting to stop a argument interrupted "Izumi is back and you didn't think to invite her to dinner."

"She has her own mother to visit, Mother. I will be sure to have her over later in the week. We actually talked about throwing some sort of dinner for Sasuke's team"

"Why, that is a wonderful idea. I am glad she is back in the village. Your cousin Takeo's wife had their second child, and I was hoping Izumi could come with me for the visit." Mikoto smiled sweetly. Itachi understood the request. You have to look underneath. While this could be Mikoto passed off as trying to teach Izumi about the duties of the wife of the Clan head, it was opening the air for Mikoto to make comments to Izumi about babies. Ninjas die young, and so it wasn't unusual and slightly encouraged for Ninja to marry young.

There would have been a time when Itachi would have been all for supporting his mother's plans to get Izumi to retire, help his mother with house, and raise their children. There was a time Itachi told Izumi that he thought she was too soft and kind for the shinobi life. These day Itachi realized that it was him that struggled most mentally and ethically with Shinobi life, and him that longed to take care of the house and a small herd of children. Unfortunately, Itachi had too much of his father in him to quit and live the civilian life. There are too many threats to Konoha, too many injustices in the current political system for Itachi to simply give up. It was pride, stubbornness, and duty all things which he had learned from his father.

Understanding that about himself helped him understand Izumi, but understanding Izumi also made him realize his mother would need to do so much more than take Izumi to visit babies to change her plans.

.

Shisui was waiting for him by the time Itachi got to the training field.

"He was at the Shrine again." Itachi informed Shisui as he approached his closest friend.

After Shisui had put a halt to the Clan's planned coup, Itachi told Shisui about the mysterious Uchiha he had noticed during his surveillance of the clan. When Itachi had told Shisui, he had come to the conclusion that the mysterious Uchiha was Madara. Shisui had put a hold on that idea, pointing out that there were a few other Uchiha whose bodies had not be recovered because of the third shinobi war. People that could have gone mad during the war or been brainwashed by Iwa. Shisui pointed out that the mystery Uchiha wasn't acting like your average 90-something-years-old man.

"I know. I think I have a lead."


	2. Chapter 2

"I know. I think I have a lead. You know how how his robes have the red clouds. I found out that robes like that are associated with a group of S-class missing nin. They call themselves the Akatsuki."

"I have never heard of them. How much do we know about the Akatsuki?" Itachi's mind looking back trying to remember every detail about the mystery Uchiha ready to match it to any new pieces of information Shisui had gathered.

"Unfortunately, very little. It seems like they do some mercenary work for a number of villages. I have heard rumours that they might have taken out a jinjuriki. Knowing that our mysterious Uchiha is a member might help Konoha understand what his organization is up to."

"But that means we have to tell someone. Who can we possibly explain this too? If Danzo knew that there was a mysterious Uchiha connected to a group of S-ranked missing nin, who knows what he would do."

"Can you trust the Hokage?" Shisui asked

"I worry that he would feel compelled to tell his advisors. Or that his ANBU has become so compromised that I could never talk to him in complete privacy. Rather I wonder if it might be better to ask questions to our fellow jonin whether they have heard of a group of missing-nin calling themselves the Akatsuki, without implying anything more than that." Itachi replied

"You thinking about asking Kakashi Hatake, I assume"

"Izumi was already planning a dinner with Sasuke's team. I could see if I can slip it into the conversation at some point. He will probably see through it to some extent, but I trust him enough to let him know that this is a threat that I am seriously concerned about. He might be in a better position to ask around than we are. He is aware that the Uchiha are being monitored, although I don't think anyone outside of root knows about the failed coup." Itachi explained

Shisui paused to consider, sighed, and then responded "Well let Izumi know what you are planning. Hopefully she can distract the little ones if need be. I know you adore Sasuke, but if he thinks you are keeping secrets from him, none of us will get any peace. And the last thing we need is a team of genin thinking that they can take on S-class missing nin."

.

Izumi was getting groceries when she ran into Mikoto. That had led to Izumi being led into the house of a distant family member so that she could be an accessory while Mikoto provided food to the new parents. All the while extolling the virtues of having children. At some point Mikoto gave Izumi the baby, while she and the exhausted looking mother put the food away.

Babies hated Izumi. Sasuke had only had to look at her to start crying. This baby waited all of two minutes to decide to scream. Mikoto swooped in and quickly pacified the child. Both parents reassured Izumi that practice was everything, but thankful Mikoto kept the baby until it was time to leave.

Mikoto then invited Izumi to walk her home in that tone that said that this too was not a request but a command.

"I know this made you uncomfortable, Izumi-chan, but it is important for you to see these things. This is what it means to be married to the clan head, and you and I both know that only the gravest of tragedies would prevent you from being the future wife of the Uchiha clan head."

"I understand, Mikoto-san, but hopefully that day is not for many years to come. I love this Clan and your son dearly, but I am still learning and growing as a young woman." Izumi replied

"I just worry. A mother worries. You and Itachi are constantly in the face of danger, and the trapping of tradition and formality are there to protect you. Your own father had an untimely death. Things like marriage, children, and clan help provide protection in a dangerous world. I don't just visit the clan's newest members, but their oldest. I want to make sure there are those to take care of me when I am old."

There were just two more blocks. Izumi wondered if she could get away with saying nothing for those two blocks. Unfortunately, Izumi's silence gave Mikoto the opportunity to continue.

"You know that we all love you right dear. I am going to keep doing this. Keep inviting you to things. You will thank me later. Better to learn all this slowly then be forced in all at once the way my mother-in-law, may she rest in peace, did with me."

"I know Mikoto-san. I appreciate this. I just want you to trust us. Itachi has always been a dutiful son, always. That is not something I want to change about him. We will talk about this, but understand that we have to make the decision that we think is best for the village, the clan, and ourselves." Izumi finished as they at last reached the house of the clan head.

Mikoto sprised Izumi wrapping her up in a hug. "Just know that Fuguku and I love you and Itachi so much and everything we do is because we want the best for you."

.

"I think we should stop fighting your mother and get married. Now...Now, stop making that face at me, listen to my reasoning" Izumi said

"If we are going to go after a group of S-ranked missing nin, you are going to need more privacy than ever. We could use this to kill a few birds with one stone. One is makes your parents happy without giving them very much. I am not giving up my career. We aren't giving them grandchildren. But it does give you an excuse to leave the house"

"And leave Sasuke alone with my parents." Itachi interjected.

"We will still be over there all the time. We can always invite Sasuke over to our place. Plus, Sasuke is starved for your father's affection. With you out of the house, he might actually get that...Look, I know this is sudden. But, I have been thinking this might be the best move. Can you at least think about it?"

"Yes" Itachi conceded.

"Thank you. You know your mother gave told me how much she loves us. Of all the awful things that parents have tried to do because they thought it was best for you, this is the least worst. We need to figure out how to get them to stop wanting to help."

"In a few more years, Shisui can use his mangekyo sharingan again, and we can convince them that we are so happy that they never have to worry about us again." Itachi joked

"I'm afraid if we rely on Shisui too much, his genjutsu might lose its potency. Plus, he might need it for that Akatsuki group. I need to get that dinner planned out."


	3. Chapter 3

For the record, Sasuke thought this was a horrible idea.

He fully blamed Izumi for this idea. Itachi would never have come up with, let alone executed, such a horrible idea. He was also betting that Izumi got along with Sakura. Sasuke knew that Izumi had a crush on Itachi for the brief time that they were in the Academy together, before Itachi graduated early. It annoyed Sasuke that everyone but him seemed to graduate early. Shisui graduated early; Itachi was one of the fastest graduates ever; even Izumi graduated a year early. No wonder that Father always paid more attention to Itachi. No Sasuke was stuck in the Academy until age 12 just like all the stupid fangirls like Sakura.

Izumi might have been a former fangirl, but at least she had been an Uchiha and a talented one at that. Sakura was smart, but she was also annoying and confusing. The only thing worse that being on the team of a fangirl was being on the same team at Naruto. If Sakura was annoying, then Naruto was the origin of the word annoying. What is worse is that Itachi, who should know Sasuke better than anyone, keep believing that Naruto and him were best friends or something.

Yes, Sasuke talked a lot about Naruto, but that it because he could never escape him. Ask any clan member in the police force. They could all tell you that Naruto is harder to get rid of then his graffiti. Unless of course he has done something, then he can run like mad.

Like right now. Naruto was talking a good five or ten decibels louder than necessary to Izumi about something that everyone already knew about. Now Izumi was being incredibly nice to Naruto, because that is the kind of girl Itachi dates, but Sasuke could tell that Sakura was about ten seconds from chewing Naruto out. He was almost impressed at Sakura's reserve, but then he guess that she was trying to play up to what she hoped were her future in-laws.

Itachi seemed to be talking to Kakashi-sensei about something Sasuke couldn't hear over Naruto's yelling. When Sasuke had first told Itachi his sensei's name, Itachi had mentioned that Kakashi had been his team captain for a while. Did that make them friends? Were they talking about work? Were they talking about him?

Sasuke was almost glad when they reached the barbeque place. Maybe food would make Naruto shut up for a bit.

.

Mikoto smiled at the sounds of her two boys coming home.

"How was the dinner?"

A quick "Hi mom. It was good." came from Sasuke, who quickly disappeared down the hallway leading to his room.

Itachi was slower to reply. "It was good to see Sasuke with his team."

"What do you think?" Mikoto asked, clearly amused by the situation.

"I think that this team will be good for Sasuke. He is still impatience, and all three of them need some lessons in teamwork. As much as Sasuke hates it, he will be a much better shinobi for this experience. All three of them have a great deal of potential in their own way." Itachi said with a great deal of warmth.

"I'm glad. He likes to denies it, but I am glad that Sasuke is friends with Kushina's son. They both love competing so much. I don't know as much about Sakura. Sasuke was never one to talk too much about the girls in his class with his old mother..."

"Sakura seems to be a very smart girl. A little shy at first, but outspoken once you get her talking. I think she liked meeting Izumi. Another kunoichi she could look up to. I think Izumi told her to feel free to come to her if she has any questions." Itachi interjected.

"Oh that's good. Izumi has alway been good like that. It is things like that make me think that she will make a good wife for you" Mikoto said sweetly.

"Izumi had mentioned that you were bringing up marriage and children a lot recently" Itachi mentioned causally then sighed. "Izumi will be over for dinner here tomorrow. We should probably talk afterwards."

Unsure if she had won or if her son was going to condone her meddling Mikoto responded "Then we will talk more tomorrow."

.

Itachi stopped by the training ground that he knew that Izumi would be at this morning. He couldn't help but watch Izumi completed a set of lunges noticing the muscle tone of her legs.

"You going to watch or you want to hold my feet so I can do sit-ups?" Izumi called out.

"I can hold your feet" Itachi replied as he walked over and kneeled down as Izumi lay on the ground feet flat.

"So I saw that you got a chance to talk to Kakashi. Did he know anything?" Izumi asked. Her voice barely interrupted by the movement of her body.

"No, but he said that he would be willing to discreetly ask around and report back if anyone did, which is about as good as I could have hoped for. I also mentioned that I worried about interaction with this group and Root, and so he knows to not ask anywhere that it might get back to Danzo."

"You tell Shisui yet?"

"Not yet. He had another mission, but he should be back tomorrow. We plan to meet at our normal training grounds." Itachi answered. He paused and then decided to add, "You are coming to dinner tonight, right?"

"Yes, that was the plan. Something up?"

"I thought about what you said. About how we might get married, and I agree." Itachi said quietly.

Izumi froze. She quickly switched to sitting position. "You are serious. You want to get married?"

"Yes. Don't...Don't act all surprised. You said it yourself...Everyone knows...We were always going to get married. As long as we were both alive the question wasn't if, it was when. I'm not sure if now is the right time, but I probably never will be. So, will you marry me?"

"Yes. Yes! Of course, yes. And I guess this means we have to tell you parents. Your mother will be happy and your father will probably have his proud face on, which is actually not that different from his mad face or his disappointed face. It might switch to the disappointed face when you tell them you are moving in with me. You are moving in with me?" After a quick nod from Itachi she continued "You need to tell Shisui. He has to help you get moved into my apartment, we are not doing it just us, and we need to be careful about Sasuke because I know you love him more than life itself but I don't trust him not to dump my underwear draw over the floor or trip on a box of tampons by accident."

"You keep the tampons on the second to last shelf in the closet right outside the bathroom. How would he possibly trip over them?"

"I love that you know that, and I don't know, but your brother is that much of a virgin that the universe might bend to make it happen" Izumi teased.

"Never let him hear you say that"

"Say what"

"See this is why I am marrying you." Itachi said with a smile.

"I thought you were marrying me because it got your mother off your back and gave you more freedom to try spying on S-class missing nin."

"Well that, and the fact that I love you."

"You do?" Izumi asked already anticipating the answer leaning in.

"Yes, yes I do." Itachi said and leaned down to give her a deep lasting kiss.

.

Notes: Thanks to those of you reading this. Please feel free to let me know what you think. Next chapter is going to be more Sasuke centric. As always I don't own anything.


	4. Chapter 4

Shisui had been expecting Itachi, but Izumi appearing too was a surprise and one that had Shisui apprehensive.

"Did something happen, while I was gone?" Shisui asked nervously.

Itachi smiled, which put Shisui somewhat at ease.

"We decided to get married."

"When did this happen?"

Itachi replied for the couple "A couple days ago. We had expected to tell you earlier, but you ran late getting back from your mission and then things have gotten very busy since we have told our parents."

"Congratulations you two! I mean, you guys are a sickly sweet couple. I'm sure that you will be very happy..."

Izumi cut Shisui off. "Sorry if this feels sudden. I kinda is. Itachi's parents were asking, and we have some non-news to tell you about the Akatsuki, but well with an actual lead with our mystery guy, Itachi could use some additional privacy. You would willing to help Itachi move into my apartment, right?"

"I...Of course, I will...Actually you guys moving in together will be more convenient. I hope you don't mind me dropping by all the time."

"We don't mind if you don't mind seeing us undressed all the time." Itachi teased. Shisui teased back with a face, "Ugg, you guys seem like you have such a boring sex life too. Would be so much more fun to walk in on Itachi tied upside down or something."

Izumi seemed to be properly embarrassed though, and decided to end that thread of the conversation "There will be no need for voyeurism. I am sure you can figure out when is not a good time Shisui. So, Itachi asked Kakashi about the Akatsuki..."

.

Everything felt different to Sasuke after Wave.

He had the Sharingan.

That small look of pride that crossed his father's face when Sasuke told his father the news.

The way that his mother quietly made sure that dinner had all his favorites that night.

He had finally done it. Achieving the Sharingan was a major accomplishment, like coming of age, within the clan. Nonetheless, the achievement seemed hollow in some way. He achieved the Sharingan, but it came when he almost lost Naruto. He was still somewhat in denial about the depth of his friendship with Naruto. What did it say about him that Naruto was his best friend? How in the world had Naruto become his best friend?

As with many of this conflicts, Sasuke went to his big brother for advice. However, when Sasuke found his brother, Itachi was not alone.

Itachi and Shisui were sparing with Izumi watching from underneath a nearby tree. The way she seemed to drink water possible suggesting that she was been sparing with either Itachi or Shisui before Sasuke had arrived.

Sasuke always thought that Itachi was so cool when he fought. He couldn't help but be a little jealous of the precision of Itachi's movement even in such a situation. In Wave, Sasuke felt like he had to fight the adrenaline coursing through his veins to think clearly. Shisui being both bigger and stronger than Itachi tried to close the gap and make this a hand to hand battle that he could quickly win. Itachi twisting out of Shisui' grasp using kuni and wire to try to weave Shisui into a trap. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and the whole fight seemed to gain another dimension. But just as Sasuke seemed to see how is was the Itachi was trying to trap Shisui in, both Itachi and Shisui stopped seeming to focus on Sasuke.

Oh that was right. They hadn't know what happened in Wave yet.

And just like that Sasuke found himself enveloped in a hug. With Itachi holding him tight, Sasuke felt such a comfort and a release that he found himself crying. However, Itachi seemed to just hold him tighter still. Whispering that everything would be okay.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Itachi asked with such patience and sincerity that Sasuke could only nod in response. He found Itachi leading him back so that he was sitting next to Izumi with Shisui hovering to his left.

And then it all came out barely stopping for breath like one run on sentence of misery and fear. This was his first real mission and he had gotten so scared of losing his team. He barely likes them most of the time, but that doesn't mean he wanted them to die. But then everything turned out okay, and He feels so silly for having been so scared in the first place. He couldn't help but ask about how they got their sharingan. They went around in a circle going through their stories. And it made Sasuke feel so much closer to his brother and his brother's friends than he ever had before.

He could see how close his brother was to Shisui and Izumi. Normally, he would be jealous, but now he just felt old. His brother had gone and found friends and he had too, and that was the way it was suppose to be. That maybe 9 years down the line that we would be like that with Naruto and Sakura. Although that meant being engaged to Sakura, so maybe not...maybe.

"Wait...Did you guys know that Kakashi has the Sharingan?" Sasuke asked

Shisui fielded that one "Friend-killed Kakashi? Yeah, everyone knows he has the Sharingan. Got it from his teammate...That is odd. I'm blanking on the teammate's name. I should know this. All those stupid excuses he always has for being late are his way of making sure the guy is remembered, apparently the guy wasn't too memorable when he was alive."

"And Kakashi killed him?" Sasuke surmised from the name "Friend-killer."

"Actually no," Itachi filled it,"Kakashi killed his other teammate, the medic. Kakashi's teammate, Uchiha Obito, died in a cave-in during the Third Shinobi War."

"Obito" Shisui muttered like he was trying to remember something.

"Oh, I remember now!" Izumi said "They had some weird love triangle. Obito loved Rin. Rin loved Kakashi, and Kakashi is like super gay and emotionally constipated."

"Wait, Kakashi's gay? But what about that porn, he is always carrying around?" Sasuke interjected.

"You didn't know...You haven't met Gai yet!" Izumi said excitedly. She started laughing. "I can't wait until you meet Gai. Gai is the most flamboyant shinobi I have ever met, and he like a taijutsu God. His exercise routine in insane. Anyway, Gai and Kakashi are "eternal rivals", which I'm sure is super romantic in Gai world and is as close to intimacy as Kakashi will publicly allow. They guy doesn't show his face; you really think he is going to be down with traditional PDA. Plus, he has that whole everyone he ever publically cared about dies thing going on, which I mean the guy has had awful luck, but if he really was cursed Gai would have been a goner ages ago. Yeah, Kakashi being gay is not something that he talks about, but he is not in the closet or anything. Not telling people basic things about himself and making them learn from others is just another Jonin eccentricity of his."

Sasuke was suddenly glad that Kakashi liked to reveal nothing about his personal life. Although this was probably good to know, for whenever this Gai fellow did appear. Unlike Naruto and Sakura, he at least will have some idea what is going on.

"Wait does that mean that one of you might know what Kakashi looks like without his mask?" Sasuke suddenly wanted to know. This question was unfortunately met with only a three bursts of laughter.

.

It seems like word spreads fast.

Sasuke have been walking through the Uchiha district when a familiar trio approached him.

Sasuke often checked in with Shintaro, Akie,and Mito, the three Uchiha clan members currently in the Academy, even though he had graduated. He had learned that it was important to look out for younger clan members through example. Shisui had looked after Itachi; Itachi had looked after Sasuke; and now Sasuke was looking out for Shintaro, Akie, and Mito. Shintaro and Akie were non-fraternal twins two years younger than Sasuke. Mito was youngest at age 9, although she had a younger sister that was not Academy age yet.

"Is it true. Do you really have the Sharingan?" Akie asked excitedly practically bouncing on her heels.

"I do" Sasuke answered.

"Can we see?" Shintaro asked only to be shushed by his sister.

"You can't just ask someone if you can see their Sharingan. It isn't polite" Akie proclaimed self-righteously.

"Do you want to see it?" Sasuke inquired and was immediately bombarded by yeses and pleases from the three children.

Sasuke closed his eye, took a deep breath, and opened his eyes again this time with the Sharingan activated. Taking in again the way that every motion seemed so different with it activated. Although all three children had seen the Sharingan before, they all seemed pleased to see it on Sasuke's face. At this point though, Sasuke was done showing it off, especially since it would be very uncool if he suffered from chakra exhaustion.

Sasuke deactivated the Sharingan and distracted the three by asking about how they were doing in the academy since he had left.

Even Mito, who was relatively shy, was full of stories to tell. Having talked with the adult kids yesterday, Sasuke was again bombarded with a mini-realization that he was growing up. He wasn't one of the academy Uchiha anymore. He was a shinobi with a Sharingan.

.

Shisui was helping Itachi move in when it seemed like they were truly alone. He could sense no nearby presences and he had done a pretty thorough search of the premise under the guise of looking for Izumi's flashlight.

"There is something I need to tell you." Shisui started "Yesterday, remember how we were talking about Kakashi's teammates?"

"Yes" Itachi responded and Izumi noded.

"I think we might have found another suspect to our mystery Uchiha's identity. Obito Uchiha's body was never recovered. He would be in the right age range, unlike Madara, and unlike Yuriko, he is male. Because we know that Kakashi has Obito's eye, determining if it is or not only requires determining if the mystery Uchiha has both his eyes."

Itachi though back, and thinking again he wasn't sure if he had noticed the Uchiha having two eyes. "If he appears again I can look for that, although it could be awhile before he comes back."

"What if it is Obito?" Izumi asks. "How will we convince people? How can be stop him? What will we tell Kakashi? Kakashi has built up Obito in his mind like some sort of idiot God."

"All the more reason for us to figure out. If it is Obito, we may need to turn to Kakashi for advice. I think he has a more advance sharingan than he currently has the chakra to use," Itachi informed the other two.

.

Notes:

So I skipped the telling Itachi's parents. Mikoto was happy, but as always very reserved. Fugaku was suspicious of Itachi moving out, but Mikoto wanted this so bad that she smoothed things over.

I will try to remember to write the scene where Team 7 first meet Gai. If I forget when that comes up in the timeline, fuss at me in the comments.

So the names Shintaro and Akie come from the names of the father and spouse of the current prime minister of Japan. Yes, i am googling famous Japanese people for name ideas for my OCs. Whenever I add a chapter I am trying to go back and fix the grammar errors I noticed in the old chapters. Thanks to those of you that made it this far.


	5. Chapter 5

Shisui found it funny how worked up Itachi was getting over Sasuke's chunin exams. Sasuke had achieved chunin level fighting skills years ago, and now with the addition of the sharingan all that was left was to see if he had the mental maturity and teamwork to pull this off. From the way that Itachi was worrying, you would think that Sasuke was 7 not 13. What was funnier was that Kakashi had not apparently mentioned the chunin exams yet and so Sasuke had been left to his own conclusions for why Itachi was hovering so much. It seems that Sasuke had come to the conclusion that Itachi must be worried that he felt abandoned with Itachi's decision to get married to and move in with Izumi.

If it wasn't for all the wedding planning that the two were being dragged into, Shisui is sure that Itachi would have spent even more time training Sasuke. As it was Itachi wasn't taking any major missions just in case he had to rush to Sasuke's bedside or something. Maybe donate a kidney if Sasuke needed it?

And because of Sasuke's inaccurate conclusions, Shisui got to watch Sasuke try to awkwardly assure Itachi both that he is an adult and that he thinks Izumi is great. Now Shisui understands that Itachi loves Sasuke like the sun shines out Sasuke's ass. Granted, Sasuke was fairly cute as a kid and he is still great for a laugh to the present day. But Sasuke is not the most mature 13-year-old that ever was and mature is not usually the first word that springs to mind with that age. Furthermore, while Sasuke clearly got his mother's good looks, Itachi got all of her tact and social grace. Thus, Shisui was granted so much great comedy material with Sasuke's attempt to complement Izumi.

"Izumi doesn't make annoying squealing noises all the time like most of the girls in my class."

"It is better now that you can eat all your too sweet food with Izumi. It is great that you found someone that doesn't hate dango."

"Wow, Izumi, I never knew that you liked to wash the pans before eating. Aren't you just perfect for Itachi. I'm so glad that Itachi found someone like you."

It was just all so bad. But it was sort of sweet too. At least the person that Itachi adored seemed to adore him back, as Sasuke was clearly trying to make Itachi feel better.

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Sasuke was glad that Naruto and Sakura had stood up for those kids. Sasuke recognized them as being in Mito's class. The red-headed Suna-nin had been strong though. Sasuke was already looking forward to the opportunity to challenge him.

There was going to be a chunin exam. He would need to tell his parents. He wonders how his father would react. Even if he achieves chunin during this exam, he will be so much older that Itachi, when Itachi made chunin. He would have to become chunin. The Uchiha were the strongest clan in the Land of Fire, and he had to show the world their strength.

He would need to tell Itachi too. Itachi seemed to be so guilty about moving out. This would be a chance to show his brother how strong he had become. Sasuke didn't need Itachi at home to look out for him all the time. Sasuke would show father that he too is a ninja worthy of the Uchiha name.

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"I think your mother is planning on inviting half the village to the reception." Izumi half groaned. She had wanted to get more training in today, but Mikoto had ambushed her with wedding planning.

"You were the one that suggested this," Itachi reminded her.

"Ugh, don't remind me. We are a team you know. I stop you from your stupid ideas, and you stop me. Not that marrying you is a stupid idea, but letting your mother have any part of in it is." Izumi said as she set the table in their apartment.

"At least she helps. She could have expected you to plan everything and then just criticized any failings. Your mother and her planned everything for the engagement dinner for you," Itachi relied from the stove.

Sensing Izumi's stress Itachi consoled, "Soon this will all be over." He came over and gave her a hug.

"Yeah," Izumi agreed. "I seems like your Dad has been working late a lot recently. Apparently three Uchiha's have gone missing recently. Your dad has been working late on the cases, trying to see if they are connected. You see our mystery guy? He isn't related, right?"

"No," Itachi answered "I have been looking for him and so far nothing. Hopefully, father solves the case quickly." Itachi gave a quick kiss to Izumi's neck before going back to the stove.

It was nice eating together just the two of them. They were both enjoying getting to do that more often now that they were living in the same apartment. Whoever didn't cook had to clean the dishes, which was nicer for Izumi than having to do everything on her own. As Izumi cleaned, Itachi did a series of light exercises. He had told the Hokage that he wanted to stay close to home especially with the chunin exams coming up. The consequence of that was that Danzo put him on Uchiha watch much more often. That wasn't a bad thing, it meant that he could look for the mysterious Akatsuki member, although that had been rather unfruitful. He was surprised he hadn't heard of the missing Uchiha. With the way that Danzo watched the clan, he surely must know what happened. Danzo must have felt that the disappearances were not worth reminding the Hokage of his monitoring behavior or worth updating Itachi on.

Izumi liked that Itachi sometimes left his hair down, although it obscured his neck. Itachi had a rather erotic back in Izumi's opinion. She loved running her hands up his back to his neck. How smooth his skin was despite his profession. How muscular his back was despite his slight frame. As Itachi got out the bathroom after taking a shower, the water from his only partially dry long hair rolled down in back. She had tried to read after finishing cleaning up, but her mind clearly wanted to focus on whether Itachi would be in the mood for sex.

"I can't read tonight. Do you realize how good you look right now?" Izumi asked.

Itachi reacted to the rather obvious sign by going over to his side of the bed and pulling his into a kiss. Itachi isn't entirely sure how he would have got through puberty without Izumi. Everyone just expected them to be a couple. Izumi had liked him. So when he started noticing that he was noticing Izumi back, he had just asked her out. Izumi was both pretty and familiar. Itachi knew her and trusted her. He knew that lightly running his fingertips up her torso was a quicker way to get her in the mood than touching her breasts. He knew that it had taken them 11 months to figure out that if you used more tongue you could mostly replicate the feeling of a sucking kiss without the hickey. He knew that she enjoyed performing oral sex on him as long as it didn't last more than about 5 minutes because then she went from feeling powerful and sexy to bored. They had both spend so much of their life training to be silent, and he found often found it difficult to form words, let alone words like the protagonist in a Icha Icha story that would excite and heighten the mood, but it didn't matter because she was in love with the sound of his slightly labored breath.

They were trained killers. People paid them because of their extraordinary bodies. People wanted them dead because of their extraordinary bodies. Yet, they trusted each other with great access to these same bodies, which is what the rest of the world based their worth off of, during moment of great vulnerability. If Itachi could save only one person's life, that person would be Sasuke, but if he had to trust only one person with his greatest secret that person would be Izumi.

Izumi loved just laying in silence with Itachi. She loved Itachi so much. He made her so happy.

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Notes: Don't own anything. This is just a quick little chapter. A lighter chapter before the craziness of the chunin exams. The engagement dinner happened before Itachi moved in with Izumi.


	6. Chapter 6

"Useless."

Kabuto surveyed the body of the third Uchiha that they had tried to implant the cursed seal onto.

"We will need someone stronger." Orochimaru demanded.

"The stronger they are the harder they will be to get, and the more likely that the Leaf will notice," Kabuto responded.

"Someone young then, but with potential. Besides a younger body will give me more time, and younger minds are oh so fun to corrupt."

"They will need to have already awakened the Sharingan. It is hard to tell who in the clan will have the potential before it is already awaked, " Kabuto reminded Orochimaru.

"Fufufu, you have an idea, don't you Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked in an amused tone.

"There is to be a chunin exam in Leaf." Kabuto supplied.

Orochimaru smiled. "Please go on."

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Having heard of Gai was not nearly enough to have prepared Sasuke for meeting Gai.

First off, Gai's student really was a beast. Sasuke made seeing top level taijutsu before. He knew that he was a long way off from being at that level. He was used to seeing it in jonin like his brother and Shisui, and while Rock Lee wasn't at that level yet, he was also way better than any genin that Sasuke had ever seen. He had third cousins that were chunin that Sasuke would bet all this pocket money could not stand up to Rock Lee. Some of those moves he had not seen, and he was going to remember them.

Plus Izumi has said flamboyant. She had not mentioned the green unitards or the fact that sunsets seemed to randomly appear when he cried. That was not normal flamboyance that was...that was Gai.

Still he consoled himself that he was more in the know that either of his two teammates. When that Kabuto guy came offer info, Sasuke didn't bother asking about Rock Lee because he knew that he could always go home and drag more information out of Izumi or Shisui. No, Sasuke was all about information on the foreigners.

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There were two tailed beasts present at the chunin exams. Pain would have wanted him to at least try to capture one of them. But if he did, that might ruin his best chance of getting his hands on an Uchiha body strong enough to survive the curse seal.

If Hiden and Kakuzu were allowed to have their own priorities, well then he was too.

He would go after the Ichibi first. It could all tie together.

Sasuke, delicious Sasuke, had used his sharingan during the first part of the exam. And a mere 13 years-old, what a wonderful age for a young body. Being Fugaku's son was both promising and troubling because this exam would probably be his only chance.

He would need something to distract Leaf when Sasuke went missing.

He would need something to allow him to grab the Ichibi.

He would need to set up a meeting with the Kazekage. Who knows, Rasa might kill his old teacher out of all this, now wouldn't that be a treat? His old friend Danzo would like that too. Might help when Danzo comes asking about the three dead Uchiha, or well, at least their eyes.

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Notes: If you made it this far, please leave a review letting me know what you like or don't like. Pretty please!

So this is where we really start seeing the two universes going in different directions and where they stay the same. Because Itachi wasn't there to chase away Orochimaru, Orochimaru is still part of the Akatsuki, but it looks the Orochimaru has fairly similar tricks up his sleeves despite the affiliation change.


	7. Chapter 7

This was not a good day for Anko. For some reason Orochimaru decided he needed to make her life even more miserable than he already had, and Orochimaru had already made Anko's life pretty miserable.

Orochimaru decided to mess with Uchiha Itachi's little brother during HER section of the chunin exams.

Anko likes Itachi. He likes sweets. She likes sweets. They both liked kicking the asses of anyone dumb enough to say anything about their food choices. Izumi was her favorite other tukonin jonin and Itachi had thus far done a pretty good job of treating Izumi right...But everyone and their mother knows that Itachi is a total mother hen. And Anko just exposed his little brother to Orochimaru. If Itachi did not know just how much she would never ever ever want to inflict Orochimaru on anyone, she would have been dead already.

As it was, she was dealing with Itachi's interrogation, sharingan swirling away, over the same things that she had already explained to him two hours ago.

Sasuke was alive, another thing having kept Itachi from chopping her up into little pieces. Rather Orochimaru had left Sasuke with a rather unpleasant gift.

After this, Anko suspected that Itachi would devote himself to be the foremost expert on fuinjutsu. The Uchiha have a reputation of being petty enough that she wouldn't put it past him to figure how to get the curse mark off Sasuke and make her continue to live with it out of spite.

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Sasuke had made it to the third round of the chunin exams, but it still didn't feel like enough. He felt glad that his father was barely at home. Sasuke felt like he must have let him down. Everyone else was hovering and whispering behind his back like he was dying and they didn't know how to break it to him.

Sasuke knew that Kakashi was trying to talk his mother into letting Kakashi whisk him away for training in preparation for said third round. He was suppose to go up against the redhead from Suna, and after seeing what that kid to Rock Lee, Sasuke didn't know if he would live long enough for whatever Orochimaru had planned for him. It was alway hard to read Kakashi, but it seemed that Kakashi was close enough to the Rock Lee situation via Gai that he too was convinced it wasn't a good idea to ignore Gaara because of Orochimaru.

Sasuke might have listened in on the conversations a few times. He is a ninja, it is information gathering.

A lot of what they said was to be expected. However, he had not expected them to start talking about his idiot teammate's mother. Sasuke had never once thought about Naruto's parents. On some level, he had expected Naruto to have had parents, but he had not expected his mother or Kakashi to have known them. Apparently, they did though, and they had known her as not an fuinjutsu expect, but THE fuinjutsu expert. That is not what Sasuke would have imagined if someone had asked him to imagine what Naruto's mom would be like.

That had actually sparked a number of questions for Sasuke. Why had he never heard anyone mention Naruto's parents before? Before he had assumed that Naruto's parents had been civilians or that Naruto had been just found somewhere abandon, so no one mentioned them because no one knew anything worth mentioning. But that was clearly false. Another bad assumption that Sasuke had made was that Uzumaki was just the name of a dead clan that someone had decided to give to Naruto on a whim or to honor the first hokage's wife. Again, now clearly false although now that he thinks about it that seems a rather silly thing to think. Did Naruto know any of this?

And while Sasuke was clearly watched much of the time. He did meet up with his teammates every couple of days.

Sakura was out of the running, but she would do some basic training with him while he waited to see if they would let him do any intense one-on-one with Kakashi. Naruto was apparently trying to learn how to use a summoning jutsu after ditching the guy Kakashi had tried to pass Naruto off too. Sasuke was excited when his teammates had as big a reaction to his overheard conversation as he had. Of course, being Naruto and Sakura they had to be like three times louder than he had been. Sasuke had to explain what fuinjutsu was to Naruto like three times because Naruto is an idiot, but encyclopedia Sakura knew some things about the Uzumaki clan that he didn't from memorizing a bunch of history books. No mentions of Kushina, so either she wasn't famous or too recent for the books Sakura reads. Sakura had apparently been reading more history books since he mentioned that the guy that attacked them was famous.

Two days later it seems that his parents and Kakashi had come to an agreement on his training. Sasuke had to come back every two days. If they didn't come back, the village would assume that Orochimaru was captured them. Additional his mother or Itachi would do surveillance and help with training when they could.

Apparently, father thinks that Orochimaru might have been behind the other Uchiha disappearances recently, and so all Uchha are being advised to be on full alert and to travel accompanied when possible, particularly younger Uchiha.

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Naruto now had two things he need to weasel out of Kakashi. Naruto was determined to know what Kakashi's real face looked like and how Kakashi had known Naruto's mother. Oh, and why he didn't say anything. Oh crap, that is three things. No, Kakashi didn't say anything because he is Kakashi. Like the most Kakashi has ever said about himself was that he "likes things".

Naruto had imagined his parents a lot as a kid. For the first time ever, he had a name.

He tried to imagine what a Uzumaki Kushina should look like? She would be prettier than Sasuke's mom, obviously, because she was his mom, although that would be hard because Sasuke had the prettiest mom that is why all the girls thought that Sasuke was pretty too.

He even bets that she could have told him how to kick Sasuke's butt and make Sakura fall in love with him because apparently she was a badass, although Sasuke didn't have too many details about the seal jutsu stuff she was an expert at. Summoning falls under seals though, so maybe once he mastered this summoning business he would master the rest of that too.

Sakura had said that most of her family/clan had died when mom must have been was young, which explains why he has a big clan name, but no one ever tried to claim him. What Sakura told him meant that his mom had probably been just like him, alone. If only she had been alive, well neither one of them would have had to be lonely anymore because they would have had each other.

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Shisui hates when Itachi is right because Itachi is very good at imagining worst case scenarios. Of course, something would actually happen to Sasuke during the exam. Of course, Sasuke would take the exam with an S-class missing nin. Shisui had been prepared for Iwa sending chunin as genin and Sasuke getting a little roughed up. Shisui had not been prepared for a freaking Sanin. Shisui is pretty sure that even that was too far-fetched for Itachi's imagination. But Itachi had been prepared for something, which is why when Anko gave the slightest sign that something had been wrong, Itachi went full Anbu. They are hoping that it was this quick response from Leaf, why Orochimaru didn't manage to grab half of Team 7, instead being forced to slithered off back into hiding.

Itachi thinks that Orochimaru will try for Sasuke again. Shisui really hopes that Itachi isn't right.

Notes:

Thank you for the reviews! More Itazumi next chapter, but that chapter will probably take bit to come out because of real world craziness (nothing bad).


	8. Chapter 8

This is an M rated chapter. Don't like, don't read. You won't miss much in terms of plot for skipping this chapter.

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Itachi watched as Sasuke attempted Hatake's Chidori. The jutsu tooks both a great deal of concentration and chakra both things that became more precious once Sasuke after getting the curse mark. Unfortunately, Sasuke's main element was lightning, just like his jounin sensei, but that was a nature affinity that Itachi did not have. Furthermore, while it seemed that Sasuke was talented enough at breaking genjutsu, he had not the nack nor the patience for creating them.

While Itachi was proud that Sasuke was forging his own identity as a ninja, it frustrated Itachi that he could not do more to prepare Sasuke.

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"I love you."

It was all that she could think to say, to the fear in Itachi's eyes. She could not promise him that Sasuke was going to be okay. She knew it was useless to tell him again that this was not his fault. Right now she didn't want to think about snake Sannin or Sasuke. It was no use continuing to worry about the unknowable during their limited downtime. Sasuke was alive. Kakashi had put a seal on the curse mark and was training him for the last section of the Chunin exam. There was lots of surveillance looking for Orochimaru. So they just needed to stay vigilant and make sure that Sasuke stayed in a happy place so that the cursed seal didn't act up.

If Sasuke was on edge it was because Mikoto and Itachi were on edge around him. Itachi is so much like his mother sometimes, and both them are the worst at judging any situation once their worry gene get activated. Itachi was actually worse that Mikoto because he got his father's stubbornness and his prideful insistence that he needed to be the one to solve every problem. So he seemed completely obvious to how his cloud of negative emotion was not any good for preventing Sasuke from negative emotions.

Thankfully Izumi was Itachi's fiance, and as Itachi's fiance she was going to distract him so that he could relax more around Sasuke and be well rested and alert if there was another need for action.

And the best way of distracting Itachi was with her mouth. A hot breathy open mouth kiss by his ear before attaching his bottom lip. Her hands running along the skin underneath the bottom of his shirt.

She pulled away slightly looking back into his eyes.

"I love you, too. You want to head over to the bedroom?" Itachi asks. A slight nod and she is following him into the next room. Her side faces the door and so he climbs slightly over the bed. As soon as she is on the bed, Itachi pulls her into a kiss. As normal, they each remove their own clothes. It was nice not having to fiddle with his belt string or have him mess with her bra.

Itachi fingered her and she stroked him at a matched tempo. During his very first attempts at fingering her, he seemed to go to hard at her clit rather than the longer strokes she prefered. She had got to see aspects of Itachi's growth that no one else had. Itachi was to most people was the instant expert in everything, and she had gotten to see him as just a teenage not always knowing what to do but curious and wanting to please.

They were both slowly speed up, getting drawn into a growing need. Once Izumi's climaxes, she removed her hand and moves so to straddle Itachi proceeding to ride him until he reached his own climax.

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Notes:

My interpretation of canon including the light novels is that Sasuke's mother is not evil/greedy/"the worst" but rather, all sense of good judgement flies out her head when her boys' futures are threatened. Sasuke's parents saw Danzo and the council as a threat to their boys and they forgot all the ways that a coup is a horrible idea. Itachi wanted to protect Sasuke and again started to make horrible judgement calls.

Already dreading having to write the invasion. I have the main changes mapped out, but writing the action sequences will be difficult.


	9. Chapter 9

The wonderful thing was that all he had to do was wait and watch as his targets weared each other out. Orochimaru always loved observing broken desperate children fighting for their lives and ambitions. Something so honest and human about it. And he got to view it was arguably the best seat in the house.

It was almost amusing how it was easier to take out Rasa then it had been to try and snatch his son. Rasa had been so paranoid about the boy turning on the village that he had him watched at all times with the whole village posed to move if there is any issues with Gaara. On the other hand, Rasa had allowed himself to meet with a missing nin entirely alone. Rasa had always had overly proud of his actually fairly poor judgement. The state of the Village Hidden in the Sand made worse by the fact they chose a leader that was penny wise and pound foolish.

All that was moot at this point. After the Sasuke and Gaara fight, the Sand and his Sound nin would attack the Leaf. He would finally kill his old teacher. In the chaos, Kabuto would grab Sasuke and Kisame would grab whatever jinchuriki he could get his hands on.

And then Gaara began to have a meltdown...Showtime.

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"You did this. I'm not sure how, but I blame you, Itachi." Shisui snapped while trying to dodge the giant shark-skinned sword.

Everyone had been sitting together for the big match: Uncle Fugaku, Aunt Mikoto, Itachi, Izumi, and him. His aunt and uncle had almost immediately gotten caught up in a group of Sand nin. Shisui had no idea where they were now. He hoped they were okay. He was glad that Aunt Mikoto had been helping Sasuke with his training. Hopefully, she won't be too rusty.

Itachi though had noticed a major threat going after the genin. He had not said anything, but Shisui had done missions and training with Itachi for a decade. Shisui knew when Itachi had locked on to a threat, and he had followed as back-up.

Shisui was glad he did. Itachi was a skilled jonin, but Shisui would not want Itachi taking on Kisame alone.

As already proven that sword of his made all their fire jutsus worthless. Their sharingan was helpful for keeping up with Kisame's movement because they couldn't afford many direct hits. Kisame was bigger and stronger than Shisui and so Itachi looked almost like a child next to the missing-nin. Any hit would be cause injuries and the fact that the sword can steal chakra mean it would mess with Itachi's limited stamina/reserves. Kisame made Itachi's weak points weaker, and while Shisui would often use his superior size and speed to balance Itachi out, this was one person that Shisui didn't think he could out fight.

No, Itachi would have to rely on his strengthens: intellect and genjutsu. Shisui just needed to be enough of a pest to distract Kisame from turning Itachi into pulp before Itachi could set up his genjutsu.

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Itachi directed chakra to his sharingan. Thankful for his ability to see the way that Shisui was weaving through Kisame's attacks trying to use his speed to stay just out of the missing nins reach. Being just enough of a threat so that Kisame didn't feel safe putting all his attention on crushing Itachi.

Likewise Itachi was weaving through trying to find how to make direct eye contact without endangering himself or Shisui. He wasn't entirely sure that genjutsu would work. Had the chakra for the genjutsu ready to go the instant that he got a good look.

"I'm not a fool you know. I know not to look into those eyes of yours." Kisame said specially to Itachi as if he had read his two opponents so well as to know who would bring what attack.

Then, as if to prove his point. The shark-man began to fight with his eyes closed.

The good thing is Itachi didn't need the shark-man to look at his eyes to catch him in a genjutsu. He just needed Kisame to look at him, and sure enough Kisame looked at Itachi's hand and the tide had turned.

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Izumi had lost Itachi and Shisui. Realizing that she had decided to stick with her future in-laws both of whom had not been doing much active duty over the last decade or so that she had known them, yet despite that there were plenty that would love to take them down. Many foreign nin had bones to pick with the Uchiha clan, and they would feel no less vindication because the Uchiha clan head was a little slow from too many days spent behind a desk.

The couple would have been surrounded 7 to 2 if not for Izumi. Furthermore, Fugaku was limited from going all out as long as he was surrounded by Leaf civilians. The same civilians he had spent hours behind a desk as chief of police to protect. So no flashy fire jutsu to keep the foreign nin at bay. That actually was fairly debilitating for someone out of practice because his experience and jutsu knowledge would have made up for an slowness in his hand to hand skills. Fugaku was mainly using a pair of kuni, while Mikoto was grabbing the shuriken that Fugaku had stored in his back pockets.

Itachi had always said that he strongly took after his mother. After all the hours spent watching Itachi throw shuriken with expert precision, she can see the resemblance. Academy student knew how to throw shuriken, but mother and son thought ahead far enough, had a sort of terrifying natural aptitude for killing which perfected the basics into something that could keep experience Chunin at bay. Little things like anticipating where one would natural dodge or block to anticipate where to throw the next. Past genin, most used shuriken for volley surprise attacks or to focus an opponent to move or block in order to protect their face. Shuriken were really only deadly in themselves if used in mass or with very careful precision.

Fugaku and Izumi worked then on any nin that into the range of hand to hand fighting. And it did seem like it was mostly Chunin level opponents that were being thrown at them although with sufficient numbers that could be an issue. The enemy just needed to get luck or wear them down.

"Feel free to use my shuriken if you feel you are running low Aunt Mikoto."

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You don't live as long as Mikoto has without having a fairly good understanding of exactly how adrenaline effects you. For Mikoto, it made her limbs seem likely more disconnected, but it did amazing things to her memory. Although it has been years, old muscle and battle memory jumped like it was last week.

Like a mantra, nothing new, nothing complicated keep it simple just the things she had done a million times before. A low grade genjutsu so that they slightly misjudge distance or don't see the second shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first.

Go for the major arteries first: throat, thighs, and inner arm. Next try to make it hard for them to fight: hands, eyes, and ears. Most wore a flak jacket thick enough to make shuriken to chest non-lethal, but if you see someone without, well they were either good enough to not need it or they were stupid.

The sharingan always gave her so much information at once, and yet world seemed simpler. The patterns so much clearer. Experience helped too. There was so much movement, she almost missed the near invisible movement of wind that indicated that a slashing wind jutsu was coming her way. A decade ago, she would have easily dodged but age was catching up with her. She tried to dive to the ground as fast as she could knowing that if would not completely take her out of the line of the attach.

But no pain came, rather a familiar sound. She knew what her husband sounded like when he was in pain. Mikoto opened her eyes to watch her husband bleed in too sharp a detail. She will have the final movements of his lips engrained in her memory until she dies.

"I love you my dearest. Take care of our boys."

It seemed the world had gone red.

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Notes:

I don't have a lot of experience writing action scenes so let me know what you think. Next chapter, we mourn our dead.

Also while Itachi is generally healthier than his canon self (which had benefits in terms of stamina, strength, and reflexes), he doesn't have a number of his top jutsus because he doesn't have the mangekyou sharingan. This is why I had him team up with Shisui.

While we don't know much about Mikoto or Fugaku's fighting style, we do know about Sasuke and Itachi different styles and that fighting styles are often fairly hereditary. Thus I have played matched the fighting styles with actual canon and head canon knowledge of similarities between the two brothers and their parents. Maybe this is too much personal bias, but in my family there was always a lots of "You think just like your father" and "I know what your sister will do because she thinks just like me but has your father's temper" growing up and I got similar vibes from the Uchiha family at several points. Let me know if anything starts seeming really OOC.

Thank you to everyone that has reviewed, favorited, or followed his story!


	10. Chapter 10

Itachi always knew that someday he would take over as clan leader from his father. He had not been expecting it this soon.

Uchiha Fugaku was just one of the many that were being mourned today.

The Leaf Village was going to get a new Hokage.

Itachi had seen Danzo in the crowd. He knew that Danzo would try to make a grab for the hat. As the new head of the Uchiha, Itachi was going to do everything in his power to make sure that Danzo did not become Hokage. Itachi was well aware that Danzo wanted the Uchiha out of the way, and if he was Hokage it would become all the easier for Danzo to destroy the clan in one way or another.

Itachi was drawn out of his thought by a touch. Izumi gave him a look. Itachi responded by pulling her to his chest. He could feel her breath through his clothes. She was warm and real and alive. She had been there with his mother when his father died.

Itachi might have disagreed with his father, but he had loved him. Furthermore, Itachi had knew that his father had loved him.

Itachi remember his father taking him to that battlefield at age 4. His father had given him the early understanding that life ends.

As if reading his mind Izumi whispered, "Remember the other half. Life is also born. We are going to work toward peace."

.

"I'm sorry about your Dad" Naruto told Sasuke. Sasuke could see the evidence of recent tears across Naruto's face, which was probably mirrored in his own.

"I'm sorry about Lord Third. It seemed like you were close with him."

"Yeah," Naruto replied, "growing up without parents. Old man Third was...well he was like the grandparent I never had. He was family. I know it isn't like losing your Dad, but...It is hard losing precious people. You miss them so much." The bit was accompanied by fresh tears and snot, which Naruto quickly wiped away.

The two boys stared off at the lake not really knowing what more to say but glad that they were not alone.

.

It was strange for Shisui to actually think of Itachi as head of the clan. He kept expected to see Uncle Fugaku come home late.

But then he would see Aunt Mikoto and he would know that things would not be the same. Maybe an outsider wouldn't see it, but Mikoto held herself differently. She had gone from a quiet contentment to a quiet broken but dignified.

Shisui would have liked the ability to focus solely on his mourning family. Unfortunately, Danzo still breathed. The least the Shisui could do for Itachi was to try to take care of the Danzo situation as much as possible.

Despite the fact that the Leaf Village was strapped for ninja at this point, Danzo still had a small contingent watching the clan. Shisui slipped amongst then seemingly unnoticed with his ANBU mask on.

That was when he noticed their mysterious masked ninja. It seemed that none of the other watchers had noticed. Shisui worked on leaving an inconspicuous as possible. This was not a good time for mystery-nin to be causing problems. Shisui needed to see what he was up to. Shisui knew how to call Itachi's crows. He quickly scribbled a message explaining what he was doing, and then started his chase.

.

The now family of three plus Izumi were sitting around the dinner table. Since his father's death, Itachi had returned to his old house. The still mournful dinner was disturbed by an agitation in his crows. Itachi quietly excused himself to determine what was wrong. As soon as he exited the house he noticed that one of his crows was carrying a message, which could only have come from Shisui.

"A mysterious guest has reappeared. The fastest has already gone to greet our guest."

Itachi came back inside only to inform the others that a mission had come up, and that he was needed immediately.

"At this hour, a mission summons? When do you expect to come back" his mother asked.

"Quite soon. Don't worry, mother."

Itachi gathered his gear as efficiently as possible.

Izumi stood at the doorway. "Will you need help?"

"Stay here. I want someone with my mother and Sasuke. I am not sure what the situation with Shisui is, but I will try my best to come home safely to you."

Itachi kissed Izumi softly before starting his search for his best friend.

.

Shisui had tried to be inconspicuous, but he wasn't inconspicuous enough. A messenger reached Danzo reporting that Shisui have been seeing moving through the Uchiha district seeming in pursuit of someone who they could not identify. This was done after spending time impersonating a ROOT member.

The death of Hiruzen could lead to another coup attempt by the Uchiha. Of course, Itachi would try to prevent it. Because Danzo suspected that Itachi's allies, Shisui and Izumi, would help with that endeavor, Danzo had ordered that all three were to be watched in particular. Two root member were currently tracking Shisui.

Danzo might need to personally see what Shisui was doing.

.

Notes:

So I mentioned Danzo and Obito causing trouble in the fic description, but we had relatively little shenanigans out of those two. So that will change now. Things are about to get worse.


End file.
